Adjusting and grinding planer-knives.



v 0 B. OSBORN. ADJUSTING AND GRINDING PLANEB KNIVES. ATPPLIOATIION FILED SEPT. 1a, 1908.

9193,398 Patented May 30, 1911.

llli D ATE PATENT "Ui Fli CE,

OZRA. BURR OSBORN, OF BELOIT, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BERLIN MACHINE WORKS, OF BELOIT, \VISOONSIN, A CORPORATION OF \VISCONSIN.

ADJUSTING AND GRINDING PLANER-KNIVES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 18, 1908.

Patented May 39, 1911, Serial No. 453,595.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Oznn BURR OSBORN, of the' city of Beloit, county of Rock, and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjusting and Grinding Planer-Knives, of which the following is a specification.

Planer knives are adjustably mounted upon a cutter head carried in boxes mounted on slides of the planer frame. These knives are thin blades of steel, beveled, to a cutting edge, and are usually four in number, being mounted to project when in working position beyond the four corners of the rectangular head.

To the production of goodwork it is essential that the cutting edge of the knife should maintain a uniform distance from the face of the planer bed, so as to act upon the lumber uniformly and reduce it to a uniform thickness. To secure this adjustment requires very great care and such nicety of manipulation that it is impossible to obtain even an approximately correct adjustment without the aid of a special device usually called a knifegage. These gages are constructed in a variety of ways, the most eiiicientform of construction employing roll ersniounted upon a support capable of being swung around the cutter head or stationarily mounted to Contact the several knives as the cutter head is slowly rotated past the gage rollers. With this form of gage reasonable accuracy in the adjustment of the knives can be secured in the initial setting. The setting of the knives and the passing of them over the gage rollers dulls the knife edges somewhat and it is necessary after the res have been set that they shall be ground before they are used and of course they become dulled in use and have to be reground, which can be done without removing them from the cutter head. To perform this operation various kinds of grinders have been proposed, the most efficient one comprising a rotating emery wheel mounted to travel upon its support and reciprocating thereon parallel to the putting edge of the knife. It is found that after the knives have been adjusted and ground (the adjusting being performed while the cutter head is rotated by hand, and the grinding while the cutter head is held stationary), that when the machine is in practical use and the cutter head rotating at a high speed, say several thousand revolutions per minute, a variation from the original adjusted posi:

tion of the cutting edges of the knives will.

' but I assume it is due to the fact that the cutter head, under a high speed of rotation, and by reason of imperfect balance, finds a new center of rotation, thus frequently resulting in causing the knives to cut to unequal depths and possibly also resulting in one knife cutting at unequal depths at differentpoints. This objection it has been heretofore sought to overcome by running the cutting edges of the knives at high speed over a block of emery thus truing the edges of the knives with the planer bed. This op eration is usually performed by mounting the support for the emery block either upon the frame of the machine or upon the boxeg carrying the cutter head and giving the block a traverse. With all of these appliances above described it has beenfound impossible heretofore to secure even substantial accuracy and uniformity in the action of the knives upon the lumber and this is due mainly to the fact that heretofore the adjusting and grinding mechanisms have been positioned with reference to .the cutter head, and as the head is frequently out of parallelism with the planer bed or platen irregularities are introduced by the very operations which have for their purpose to correct them. I Assuming that the knives have been adjusted by the most ethcient form of necessary clearance provided in the .grindmg of the knlves.

tem la-tes p .knpwn and have been ground or sharpened to correct by the so-called jointing opera:

tion. with the emery block, because it is impracticable to by this operation without destroying the he object of my invention is to provide a means and method foradjusting, grinding and jointing planer knives with absolute uniformity,'and the basis of my improvement is the conception that these- -various operations must be'performed by mechanisms which are'positioned with reference to the planer bed or platen'and that the gage, grinding wheel and joiuter must act' X 1, devices: mounted on saidflstuds will always operate at uni-form distances from the same from the same point of support.

As a means to this end, my invention centhe mounting of the gage or ad justing mechanism, the emery wheel or grinding mechanism, and the emery block or jointing mechanism, upon a supporter 'supports capable of being accurately placed at a giveri distance from the planer bed or platen and the operation ofthese several de-- vices at such. fixed and uniform distancesfrom the bed orplaten so that irrespective of any. wear in the bearings of the cutter.

head or its variation from the original posiand the bar in front elevation.

tion, the knives may always be perfectly lined up with the bed or platen,-resulting in their uniform action upon the surface of the material and a reduction o'fthe'material toan absolutely uniform thiclmess.

Specifically, my invention. is preferably carried out-by means of studs or supports mounted upon the boxes or bearings of the cutter head and affording a convenient.

means for determining their correct position with reference to the bed or platen, and-the mounting upon said studs so fixed and positioned, of a bar or other support carrying the gagerolls', emery wheel and emery block. The same bar may these various devices, or each of them may be provided with its own bar or support, the essential thing being that these act at the same distance from the bed or pl aten of the machine. It is obvious, therefore, that the principle of myinvention may be embodied in various ways, but I have inclicated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings means for carrying out my invention, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation showing the planer head in end view, with the support bar and vone of its studs. view of the same, showing both of the studs Figs. 3, 4,

be used as a supportfor various. devices shall be so mounted that they shall all Fig. 2 is a front and 5 show the support bar with the various mechanisms cooperating therewith, viz: the gage wheels being shown in Fig. 8; the emery wheel inFig. 4 and the emery block In the drawings 6 represents the bed of the machine; 7. the cheek piece or slide; 8 the cutte'rhead yoke carrying the boxes for the or jointing mechanism in Fig. 5.

4 cutter .head shaft; 9 the cutter ,head; 10 the knives thereof, and 1-1 .-'the knife holders.

From the lower side of the cutter head yoke depend the lugs 12 in which are mount ed studs 13 and on which studs is mounted the support bar let for carrying the various mechanisms acting on the knives.

By means of the screws 15 the yoke is adjusted for various thicknesses of lumber and by means of a set screw 12 the studs maybe adjusted to the proper position with reference to the platen and this position being. once fixed it is obvious that "the several In Fig. 3 I'have indicated at 16 ga rolls niounted on the bar 1 1, said gage rolls s -r\'- ing to position the knives as they are turned with the edges-of the knives against the faces of these rolls. Iii-Fig.- 4: I have indicated at-17' the emery wheel whereby the edges of the knives may be ground, .and in Fig. 5 I have indicated at 18 the emery block whereby the edges of the knives may all be jointed; this latter operation being performed while the cutter head is being ro-.

tated at fullspeed. The details of these several mechanisms .andtheir combination except to the extent hereinafter indicated in the cla-nns,-are notv of-my invention and there may be substituted for-these structural details any equivalent or suitable mecha nisms.

' It will be apparent that when the studs are brought to the" proper position at umformdistances from the surface of the bed or'platen, andthe gage rolls are mounted on a bar'or support carried by saidstuds, the knives will all be adjusted to a uniform distance from the surface of the bed or platen. Similarly the emery wheel being mounted on said previously positionedstuds, the knives will be ground to the same line; and when the jointing operation'takes place it will also true up the knives along the same line. Therefore the knives in the actual operation of the machine will cut uniformly and avoid the lnequalities of surface in the lumber which accompany the usual opera tion of planing machines.

I claim:

1. The herein described method of adjusting and grinding planer knives which consists first in turning the knives slowly over stationary gage devices positioned at uniform distances from the bed or platen, thengrlndon the cylinder with their cutting edges'faring such rotation jointing V or more of the knives whlle in planing posirotating, substantially as described.

' der and knives, pushing the latter inwardly eeaese ing said knives by means ota grinding mechanism operating along the line to which the knives have been ad usted, and finally ointlng said knives to the same line while rapidly 2. The herein described means for adjusting and grinding planer head. knives comprising supports capable of being adjusted to equal distances from the bed of the planer, and means interchangeably mounted upon said supports for adjusting, grinding and jointing said knives, substantially as described. I

3. The method of treating the knives of planer cylinders for the production of lumber of uniform thickness, whigh consists in positioning and loosely holding the knives on the cylinder withtheir cutting edges farther from the axis of the cylinder than their desired final positions, rotating said cylinder and knives, pushing said knives inwardly during such rotation and at that portion of the rotation in which they meet the work to the desired adjusted position with their cutting edges parallel to the surface of the planer-platen, stopping the rotation of said cylinder and knives, grinding the edge of each knife while in the same position that its adjustment occurred in parallelism with the platen, then rotating said cylinder and knives, and during such rotation jointing the edges of one or more of said knives while in that portion of their rotation in which they meet the work, substantially as de scribed.

4. The method of treating the knives of planer cylinders for the production of lumber of uniform thickness, which consists in positioning and loosely holding the knives on the cylinder with their cutting edges fan ther from the axis of the cylinder than their desired final positions, rotating said cylinduring such rotation to adjusted positions parallel to the surface of the planer-platen, stopping the rotation of said cylinder and knives, and grinding the edges of the latter while in planing position and in parallelism with the platen, substantially as described' 5. The method of treating the knives of planer cylinders for the production of lurnbe'mof uniform thickness, which consists in posifio\n:1g and loosely holding the knives ther fro the axis of the cylinder than their desired final positions, rotating said cylinder and knives, pushing the latter inwardly during such rotation and while in planing position to adjusted positions parallel to the surface of the planer-platen, rotating said cylinder and knives at full speed, and durthe edges of one 6. The. method of treating the knives of planer cylinders for the promotion of lumber of uniform thickness, i on consists in positioning and lt-wely holding the knives on the cylinder with their cutting edges far ther from the axis of the cylinder than their desired final positions, rotating said cylinder and knives, pushing the latter inwardly during such rotation while the knives are in planing position to adjusted positions with their edges parallel to the surface of the planei'-platen by rollers mounted on the planer-frame, stopping the rotation of the cylinder and knives, grinding the edges of the knives while in planing position parallel to the platen by a grinder supported from the same points of suspension as said rollers, rotating the cylinder with its adjusted lelism with the platen by a jointer supported from the same points of suspension as the rollers and grinder, substantially as described,

7 The method of treating the knives of planer cylinders for the production'of lun1- ber of uniform thickness, which consists in positioning and loosely holding the knives on the cylinder with their cutting edges farther from the axis of the cylinder than their desired final positions, rotating said cylinder and knives, pushing the latter inwardly during such rotation and while in planing position to adjusted positions with their edges parallel to the surface of the planer platen by rollers mounted on the planerframe, stopping the rotation of the cylinder, and grinding the edges of the knives while in planing position parallel to the platen by a grinder supported from the same points of suspension as said rollers, substantially as described.

8. The method of treating the knives of planer cylinders for the production of lumber of uniform thickness, which consists in positioning and loosely holding the knives onthe cylinder with their cutting edges fardesired final positions, rotating said cylinduring such rotation and while the knives are in planing position to adjusted positions with their edges parallel to the surface of the planer-platen by rollers mounted on the planer-frame, rotating the cylinder with its adjusted knives at full speed, and during such rotation jointing the edges of one or more of the knives while in planing position in parallelism with the platen by a jointer supported from the same oints of suspension as the rollers and grin er, substantially as described.

9. The method of treating the knives of tion parallel to the platen, substantially as described. 7

planer cylinders for the production of lumther from the axis of the cylinder than their der and knives, pushing the latter inwardlysharpened knives, and during such rotation ointing the edges of one or more of said, knives when in planing position in paral- & 993,398

ber of uniform thickness, which consists in allelism with the platen by a jointer supgrinding the edges of the knives While in ported from the same points of suspension as planing position parallel to the surface of the grinder, substantially as described.

the planer-platen by a grinder supported on OZRA BUR-R OSBORN. Q the planer-frame, rotating the cylinder with \Vitnesses:

its sharpened knives, and during; such rota- BURT D. STEVENS,

tion jointing the edges of the knives in par- H. E. GILLETTE. 

